SWA directed conceptual studies for incorporating a landmark residential estate, a multi-family housing complex and a creek corridor into the adjacent Arkansas River waterfront of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Recently acquired by a local community foundation, the total 64-acre area features sweeping lawns and a historic home that provides much-needed space for the city’s popular River Parks system.
The design concepts explore options for realigning, submerging, and bridging over Riverside Drive in order to connect adjacent neighborhoods to trails and open space along the river, including the recently constructed and SWA-designed 41st Street Plaza and refurbished trails.
Waterside activities will include a whitewater-kayaking venue, launching for other small boats, and pedestrian plazas. A children’s discovery museum will create a regional attraction within the estate area, with pavilions clustered within the wooded perimeter to maintain the signature open lawn area. Existing multi-family housing will be intensified, with recommendations for additional property acquisition to extend trail connections to other city neighborhoods and destinations.
Hunter's Point South Waterfront Park
Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park was envisioned as an international model of urban ecology and a world laboratory for innovative sustainable thinking. The project is a collaboration between Thomas Balsley Associates and WEISS/MANFREDI for the open space and park design with ARUP as the prime consultant and infrastructure designer.
What was once a ba...
Perk Park
Originally completed in 1972, this vestige of IM Pei’s urban renewal plan was built when the street was seen as a menace and parks turned inward. Rolling berms surrounded the edges and the sunken middle areas were filled with concrete retaining walls. After years of decline, Thomas Balsley Associates’ designed a plan to reunite the community with its park. The...
Ningbo East New Town Civic Plaza
As an extension of the Ningbo East New Town Government Center, this civic plaza extends the geometry and ecology of SWA’s past work in the city. A central civic axis runs from the government buildings to the Dongqian Lake edge, providing a large, flexible gathering/event space adjacent to an expansive lawn as well as sweeping views of the water. Per city plann...
Peanut Plaza
Reclaiming private land for public use, one of Washington D.C.’s most dangerous intersections has been targeted for vast improvements. The project kicked off with the demolition of a Wendy’s restaurant on site and implemented new road alignments to ease traffic congestion. SWA worked with NoMa community groups and the Department of Transportation on the new vi...